Designing for flexibility in aviation security systems

The events of September 11th, 2001 launched the world into a new era of aviation security policy, operations, and procedures. The very nature of aviation security makes such operations ill-equipped to rapidly respond to highly agile groups of people intent on inflicting harm to the air transportation system. This article provides an overview of aviation security issues, with a particular focus on what can be done to address the uncertainty inherent within such systems, and where flexibility in security operations and procedures can be used to mitigate such risks.